PERMUTATION AND COMBINATION COUNTING WORKSHOP

HEIDY JULIETH ROJAS AVILA

1) If three coins are tossed in the air, how many possible outcomes can be obtained?

A contractor proposes to the company that they can build the walls and roof of a
house with brick trestles (fiscal, princess or King Kong); two mixes of cement
(concrete or reinforced); and with sheet metal (zinc or tiles). How many elections
What materials can be made?

A class of 45 students is made up of 20 boys and 25 girls, and

they will elect by vote the board, made up of: president, vice president,
treasurer, secretary. If the class decides that a girl will serve as treasurer, a
the boy is going to serve in the secretariat and that no one can hold more than one position. From
how many ways can they choose a president and a vice president,
a treasurer and a secretary?

4) How many ways can 3 prizes be distributed among a group of 10 people?

assuming that each person cannot receive more than one prize?

5) How many license plates can be made using four letters?

different followed by two different digits? Repetitions are not allowed. (It
they have 26 letters.

6) How many two-digit even numbers can be formed with the digits 1, 2, 3, 4 and
9, if each of them can be used only once?

7) How many six-digit phone numbers are possible considering that the
zero cannot be at the beginning of numbers and it is not possible to repeat digits?

8) From exercise 7, how many of the previous phone numbers start with the number
7?

9) From exercise 7, how many of the previous phone numbers end with a number?
odd?

10) We have 6 different books: one on mathematics, two on biology, and three on languages.
How many ways can 6 books be arranged on a shelf if they must fit?
always together in the same subject?

11) How many ways can the Physical Education teacher form a basketball team?
five players if only nine students know how to play?

12) How many permutations of 3 letters can be made with the letters of the word
permutation?

13) How many 4-digit numbers with different digits can be formed using the digits from 1 to 9?
14) In a building where 25 adults live, a team must be formed.
internal committee of 3 people: a president, a secretary, and a treasurer. How many
What commissions can be formed?

15) On a mast, 3 flags of different colors can be hoisted in such a way that they remain
one on top of the other form a signal, if the order of the flags is changed then
A different signal is formed. How many signals can be made on this mast if there are
Are 6 flags of different colors available?

16) There are 7 books and 3 must be chosen to make a gift. How many ways are there?
Can you choose?

17) How many ways can 4 students be chosen from a set of 10?
so that they can do the shopping for a gathering?

A student must answer 7 questions to pass an exam that consists of 10 questions.

Of them. How many ways can one make the selection to pass the exam?

19) There is a dark bag with 4 white balls, 5 black balls, and 6 red balls. If
randomly extract 4 balls simultaneously, calculate the probability of the following
events

A box contains 8 red balls, 3 white balls, and 9 blue balls. If three balls are drawn at random,
determine the probability that:
1. 2 red ones and 1 white B) none is white C) at least one is white

21) A safe has a 4-digit code followed by two vowels. What is the
probability of opening the box by chance on the first attempt?
SOLUTION

The result of tossing the three coins in the air can yield a total of eight.
possible results.
Similarly, applying the multiplication principle results in:
When flipping the first coin, there are two possible outcomes;
When tossing the second coin, there are two possible outcomes;
When tossing the third coin, there are two possible outcomes.
So when throwing the three coins there are 2 • 2 • 2 = 8 possible outcomes.

2) When counting the branches of the third election, the number of possible elections is counted.
what about the
materials for the house. In this case, twelve are appreciated.
By directly applying the multiplicative principle, it is obtained that:
There are 3 options for wall material; 2 options to complete the mixture of the
balls for the
foundations and, finally, 2 options of material for the roof. Therefore there are 3 • 2 • 2
= 12 possibilities
different from choosing the materials that have been mentioned to apply them to construction
from the house.

3) ● The selection of the treasurer can happen in 25 ways, as it can be anyone of

the 25 girls.
 The election of the secretary can occur in 20 ways, as it can be anyone of
the 20 boys.
The election of the president can be done in 43 ways, because it has already been
two selected
students of the 45.
The election of the vice president can be done in 42 ways, because it has already been
selected
three students out of the 45.

Therefore, the choice of the directive can be made from: 25 • 20 • 43 • 42 = 903,000

different ways.

4) Applying the fundamental counting principle:

We have 10 people who can receive the first prize. Once it has been
delivered, between 9
the second prize can be awarded to individuals, and then, among 8 people, it can be
deliver the third prize.
Therefore, the number of different ways to distribute the three prizes is given by:
10 • 9 • 8 = 720.

5) Applying the fundamental counting principle:

We have 10 digits from which we must select two. (digits: 0-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-
8-9) Therefore, the number of different ways to write license plates without
Allowing the repetition of letters or digits is: 26 • 25 • 24 • 23 • 10 • 9 = 32,292,000.

6) Two-digit even numbers must end in an even number, that is, in 2 or 4.

Therefore, we can only use the digits 2 and 4 for the last digit of the numbers.
pairs of two digits.
First digit = 1: only the digit 2 can be used for the second digit, which gives us the
number 12.

First digit = 3: only the digit 2 can be used for the second digit, which gives us the
number 32.

First digit = 9: only the digit 4 can be used for the second digit, which gives us the
number 94.

In total, we can form 3 even two-digit numbers with the digits 1, 2, 3, 4, and 9.
if each one of them can only be used once.

7) To calculate the number of six-digit phone numbers, considering that the

zero cannot go at the beginning and digits cannot be repeated, we can use the principle
of multiplication. There are 9 options for the first digit (1-9), 8 options for the
second (0 excluded and excluding the first), 7 options for the third, 6 options
for the fourth, 5 options for the fifth and 4 options for the sixth. So,
We multiply: 9 times 8 times 7 times 6 times 5 times 4 = 15,120.

8) If we want to know how many of the phone numbers start with the number 7,
So we have 8 options for the second digit (0 excluded and excluding 7), 7
options for the third, 6 options for the fourth, 5 options for the fifth and 4
options for the sixth. So, we multiply: 8 times 7 times 6 times 5 times
4 = 6,720.
To determine how many of the phone numbers end in an odd number,
we have 5 options for the last digit (1, 3, 5, 7, 9). The other digits can be
chosen in the same way as in exercise 7. Then, we multiply: 9 times
8 times 7 times 6 times 5 times 5 = 18,900.

10) If the books must always stay together by the same subject, then there are \(3!\)
ways to arrange the biology books and 2! ways to arrange the books of
languages. We multiply these amounts to obtain the total number of ways to arrange
the books: 3! times 2! = 6 times 2 = 12.

11) To form a basketball team of five players with nine students who
They know how to play, we can use combinations. The formula to calculate this is C(n, k) =
\(\frac{n!}{k!(n-k)!}\), where \(n\) is the total number of players and \(k\) is the number of
selected players. Then, \(C(9, 5) = \frac{9!}{5!(9-5)!} = \frac{9!}{5!4!} =
126.

12) To calculate the number of permutations of 3 letters that can be made with the
letters of the word 'permutation', we must count how many letters there are in total and then
apply the permutation formula. In 'permutation' there are 12 letters, but there are letters
repeated, so we must divide the total by the repetitions. There are 3 'e', 2 'a', and 2 't'.
Then, P(12, 3) = 12! / (3!2!2!) = 19,440.

To form a 4-digit number with distinct digits from 1 to 9, we can use

Permutations. There are 9 options for the first digit, 8 options for the second.
(excluding the first chosen digit), 7 options for the third (excluding the two)
digits already chosen), and 6 options for the fourth (excluding the three digits already
chosen). Then, 9 times 8 times 7 times 6 = 3,024.

14) To form an internal committee of 3 people from a group of 25, we can use
combinations. The formula to calculate this is \(C(n, k) = \frac{n!}{k!(n-k)!}\), where \
(n) is the total number of people and (k) is the number of selected people.
Then, C(25, 3) = \frac{25!}{3!(25-3)!} = \frac{25!}{3!22!} = 2,300.

15) First, let's calculate the number of possible permutations for 3 flags taken
from a set of 6. This is represented as (P(6, 3)), which is calculated as:
P(6, 3) = 6! / (6 - 3)! = 6! / 3! = 120

Therefore, there are 120 different ways to hoist 3 flags on the mast such that
they form a specific signal. However, since we can also change the
Order of the flags, we must multiply this result by 2: [ Total number
of possible signals} = 120 times 2 = 240 ]

Therefore, there are 240 different signals that can be formed on this mast with 6
flags of different colors.

16) If the order in which the books are to be chosen mattered, there would be 210 possible ways.
to do it (see example of variations). But since the order does not matter, it is necessary to
divide this amount by a permutation of 3 elements, that is, by 3! = 6. Thus, .
Then there are 35 possibilities to choose 3 books from 7 to make a gift.
17) Here, the order in which the students are chosen is not important either, hence,
Considering example 2 of variations which is very similar to this one, it needs to be divided.
5040 by a permutation of 4 elements, that is, by 4! = 24. Then, there are
210 possible groups to do the shopping.

18) (C(10, 7)) represents the number of ways to select 7 questions from a set.
10! (10 factorial) is the factorial of 10 (that is, (10 * 9 * 8 * 7 * 6 * 5 * ...
cdot 4 3 2 1)). (7!) is the factorial of 7. (10 - 7) is equal to 3.
Calculating: C(10,7)=7!⋅3!10!=3⋅2⋅110⋅9⋅8=120 Therefore, there are 120 different ways
in which the student can select 7 questions to pass the exam.

19) A) The 4 white balls come out

Solution:
Number of possible cases: according to combinatorics, the number of ways to
choose 4 balls from
a total of 15, regardless of the order (since they are extracted simultaneously) is 15
4 = 1365.
Number of favorable cases: Since there are only 4 white balls, there is only one
possibility because there is to
take them all simultaneously (the order does not matter)
Consequently, the requested probability is 1
1365.
b) They all come out black
Solution:
Number of possible cases: this has already been calculated and is
Number of favorable cases: Since there are 5 black balls and we have to take 4, this is
can do from
( ( 5/4) = 5 different ways, (remember that when taking 4, one will always be left out
and this can be done in 5 different ways.
Consequently, the requested probability is = 5/1365 1/891
Two black and two red come out.
Solution:
Number of possible cases: 1365.
Number of favorable cases: Since there are 5 black balls and 2 need to be taken, this is
can do from
( ( 5/2 = 10 different ways. Similarly, there are ( ( 6/2 = 15 different ways to
take 2 red balls
out of a total of 6. According to the multiplication principle, there are ( ( 5/2 ( ( 6/2 = 10 • 15
150 different ways to take 4 balls, 2 black and 2 red, from this bag. Therefore,
both the requested probability is
( ( 15
4
((5
2((6
2
•
= = 10 15
1365
150
1365
10
 91
•
They all come out red.
Solution:
Number of possible cases: 1365.
Number of favorable cases: Since there are 6 red balls and we have to take 4, this
It can be done in = 15 different ways. Consequently, the requested probability is = 15.
20) a) 2 red and 1 white:
3/20

b) None shall be white:

March 17

c) At least one is white:

14/17

21) represents the number of combinations of 2 elements taken from a set of

26. We can calculate it as:
26 choose 2 equals 2 factorial⋅(26−2)!26!=(2⋅1)(26⋅25)=325
Then, the total number of possible combinations for the key is:
104⋅325=3,250,000
Since only one of those combinations is the correct key, the probability of opening
The safe can be opened on the first attempt by chance is 1 in 3,250,000, which can be expressed
like 3,250,0001